Portugal’sSantaCasalotterylaunchesonlinesportsbetting

Portugal’s sports bettors have one more online wagering option after the local regulator approved the country’s 13th licensee.

On Friday, the Serviço Regulação e Inspeção de Jogos do Turismo de Portugal (SRIJ) regulatory body announced that it had issued an online sports betting license to SAS Social Betting, Gaming and Gambling Online, SA. The company will operate using the Placard.pt domain, which officially launched on Monday.

Santa Casa originally announced its intentions to apply for a sports betting license over two years ago. Launching just days before the 2018 FIFA World Cup kicks off, SCML is apparently banking on familiarity with its Placard brand to allow it to hoover up a sufficient volume of customers without a lot of advance marketing work.

SCML holds a 54% stake in SAS, with minority stakes held by the Portuguese Misericordia Union, the Montepio Geral Foundation, Caritas Portuguesa and the Associação dos Cegos e Amblíopes de Portugal (ACAPO).

Sports betting is the dominant vertical in Portugal’s regulated market despite the onerous tax on betting turnoverthat averages 12%. Sports betting revenue was flat in the SRIJ’s most recent quarterly report, although that figure is expected to spike in the current quarter with the volume of World Cup wagers.

Portuguese-licensed online gambling operators generated combined revenue of €122.5m in 2017, more than twice the sum generated in the limited window of licensed activity in 2016. Still, online represented only a small fraction of the overall Portuguese gaming market revenue of €3.52b in 2017, of which over €3b came via SCML’s lotteries.

Last November, Santa Casa imposed new restrictions on its Placard product, limiting punters to a single betting slip (stamped with the bettor’s tax number) and a daily wagering limit of €5k per punter.